WWWombat - that's interesting, and makes sense in this situation.

Any ideas what happens next, or is it just a stale mate between BT and the UKPN?

What is the power draw of a FTTC cabinet, and can it really push a transformer over capacity, or are the power companies just seeing this as an easy way to get their transformer upgrades paid for?

Stalemate, as the exta cost (to BT) makes the cabinet commercially unviable. They'll (presumably) just wait until BDUK or a council injects money to cover the cost, or until some third party pays for the upgrade as part of their own request for a power supply... and then just get a standard £1k supply.

I don't know how much an FTTC cabinet actually draws, but the significant thing (for dimensioning the supply line, and the transformer capability) is the maximum supply that could ever be drawn, now or in the future. For example, a house with a standard supply (with a 100A fuse) needs to be rated at 100A, even if it doesn't ever draw that much.

The transformer then has to be rated to take every connection at maximum current.

So a 10A actual draw might not take the transformer out of rating, but allowing the full 100A, just in case, perhaps would.

Better Connected Sussex got back to me today. They are saying that the power IS coming from the new estate when it's fitted. Roadworks.org don't show anything for UKPN in the next 12 months, but the site is being built at a rapid pace so the power is going to need to be put in fairly sharpest.

BCS has said they'll chase it again in 2 months if it's not up and running by then.

In reply to a post by pete_thomson:

but the site is being built at a rapid pace so the power is going to need to be put in fairly sharpest.

Is this cabinet on a newly-built estate? or one where building is still going on?

No, the cab is on the entrance off of a main road into the existing estate (where I live, approx 10 years old now) however there is a new developement being built next to us about 500m down the main down.

The suggestion is that the power for the new site has to run along the main road, past the entrance to my estate and the cab, and further along to where the new development is being built.

Not quite sure how the main feed into a 600 home development is needed to feed a small cab, but hey ho.

id be ore worried abou the new developement as i bet that has a new copper cab and is not on either then commercial or BDUK programmes

If you've not already noticed - there is power being laid down the road running right past the new cabinet this week. The work is being done by "Gas Transportation Co Ltd" and is marked as Gas work on roadworks.org, but they appear to also do electrical work.

Hopefully they will be connecting the cabinet, I'll keep and eye on it as I drive or walk past the cabinet every day.

Been keeping a close eye on it. They are running HV/LV cabling and the other end is very close the the cab, but it's also at the point where the cabling crosses the road and heads up towards the new estate.

Because of that I'm not getting my hopes up but it is looking encouraging.

I've just had an email from 'Better Connected' West Sussex, who say:

Openreach have confirmed that Littlehampton cabinet 34 remains within their planned commercial rollout of broadband but, in terms of timescales, I have not been able to obtain a clearer picture for you. A request for the power provision to be planned is now with the power company but it is not known how long it will take for a solution to be planned.

As Littlehampton 34 is a commercial cabinet, West Sussex County Council cannot influence Openreach or the power company. However, I will continue to request updates on the status of the cabinet and will contact you when I have news.

Thanks for that.

I noticed on the BT retail site that's is had an Aug-Dec14 estimate and that changed to Sept-Dec14 a couple of weeks ago.